Modern blast hole drilling operations often use maps of the worksite. The maps may include a representation of the geography of the worksite, as well as a planned pattern of holes to be drilled by a drill rig. An operator of the drill rig typically positions the rig at a planned hole location and drills the hole. This process is repeated until all of the planned holes have been drilled. The operator of the drill rig often makes an ad hoc determination of the order in which all of the holes from the drill hole pattern are drilled.
Although allowing the operator to select the order in which the holes are drilled may ultimately complete the task, it may be inefficient. Accordingly, a method for determining and/or optimizing the order in which holes are to be drilled is needed.
One method for improving drilling performance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,957,707 to Koivunan et al. (“the '707 patent”). The '707 patent discloses an arrangement for positioning a drilling unit. Specifically, the '707 patent discloses a method and a computer program for controlling a drilling cycle in a rock drilling apparatus. Each drilling unit in the rock drilling apparatus of the '707 device is monitored during a drilling period, and a drilling sequence of a control unit in the rock drilling apparatus is updated at predetermined intervals during the drilling period. The drilling sequence is changed during updating, if changes occur in the drilling conditions during the drilling period.
Although the method of the '707 patent may update a drill hole sequence based on changed conditions, it may still be inefficient. Specifically, the device of the '707 patent may not fully account for efficiency loss due to differences in travel time between holes resulting from different movements of the drill (i.e., movement in some directions may incur a greater time penalty than movement in other directions). Modifying the sequence based on measured conditions may improve efficiency over time, but time may still be wasted as the system seeks for more efficient parameters, thus increasing overall drilling time. This disclosure is directed at overcoming one or more of the problems described above.